Sunshade for horses.



Patented May 7, |90I.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN FULLER SPONG, OF COUNTY OF SURREY, ENGLAND.

suNsHADE FOR HORSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 673,738, dated May 7, 1901.

Appnamn flied February 21, 1901. serial No. 48,361. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom/ it may GU10/cern:

Y Be it known that I, JOHN FULLER SPONG, a subject of the King of GreatBri tain, residing at 22 Peckham road, in the county of Surrey, England, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Sunshades for Horses; and I hereby declare the following be a to full, true, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in shades used for protecting the heads of horses and other animals, such as mules or asses, from the rays of the sun; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to make the sunshade light and to yenable it to be easily lixed in the required position; second, to allow its shape to be easily altered and adjusted, and, third, to aord effective protection to the head of the animal. I effect these objects by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a side view showing my improvement applied to a horses head; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the improved sunshade, and Fig. 3 is a view of the same from above.

Similar letters refer tosimilar parts in the several views.

a is a strip or plate of light lexible but nonelastic metal or material, such as aluminium, upon which is ixed a piece of flexible material-such as felt, canvas, linen, or cloththe back part of which, b, covers the top of the horses head and neck behind the ears, while its front part c covers the part of the head in front of the ears and between the blinkers, the part connecting b and c being curved in on each side, so as to'flt between the earsff, against which the edges of the curved -part are turned up, as shown at g, so as to form a protection or guard to the lower part of the ears. The sides of the back part of the cover at b are turned down at each side at d, so as to hang down and protect the sides of the head and neck behind the ears.

The parts b and c of the cover and the connecting part between them are formed of a double thickness of material, between which is fitted a stiffening-piece e, of similar shape, (shown in section in Fig. 2,) of pasteboard, canvas stiffened with shellac, or the like, to which the thicknesses of material are cemented, and the metalstrip a is arranged between the stiffening-piece c'and one of the thicknesses of material, as shown in section in Fig. 2, the whole being united by rivets h.

A metal hook 'L' of the shape shown in Fig. 2 is riveted or screwed to the lower side of the compound covering, the lower end of the hook being bent back at k, so as to form a clip, which can be pushed back from the front and fitted firmly upon the transverse strap which supports the blinkers, or, if blinkers are not used, upon the transverse head-strap of the harness. For greater steadiness two parallel hooks may be used instead of only one, both being attached to the lower side of the covering.

The entire device is steadily and conveniently supported at asufficient distance above the horses head, and the metal strip ci, together with the front and back parts b and c, can be yeasily bent to take the required shape, which they will retain without difficulty, while the sides d hang freely down and afford the required protection without causing annoyance to the animal.

The device can be instantly removed and replaced and is very light, cheap, and simple.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the inelastic metal strip a, the parts b and c of the stiifened covering, the hanging sides d, and the hooked fastening t' attached to the strip a and stiffened covering, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with the metal strip a, stiffened covering b, c, and hooked fastening c', the turned-up edges g protecting the lower part of the ears, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN FULLER SPONG.

Witnesses:

E. EDWARDS, 1 ARTHUR E. EDWARDS. 

